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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAjL.. 



as a rule, so long as there is a quantity 

 of unfilled comb in the hive. By having 

 a brood-chamber always large enough to 

 accommodate the most fertile queen, 

 and at the same time leave some consid- 

 erable room for honey and pollen, with 

 empty combs above in which to store the 

 inflowing nectar, will generally keep 

 bees from swarming — something that a 

 brood-chamber of even 3,000 cubic 

 inches with empty supers cannot be 

 depended upon to do. 



The majority of bee-keepers of the 

 third class produce chiefly or exclusively 

 comb honey. Usually they pay less 

 strict attention to their bees than the 

 specialist, and hence want a hive which 

 will more nearly enable the bees to take 

 care of themselves. That means one 

 that will furnish all the breeding room 

 necessary up to the beginning of the 

 honey harvest, and allow perhaps one or 

 two combs for pollen and honey. This, 

 I believe, they have to the fullest extent 

 necessary in the lO-frame Langstroth — 

 about 2,600 cubic inches. That being 

 enough, they do not want a larger one, 

 as every extra inch of space below keeps 

 that much honey out of the surplus 

 department. 



That larger brood-chambers have a 

 tendency to delay and sometimes prevent 

 swarming, is no doubt true, but it is be- 

 cause of the extra room there in which 

 to store honey. Bees will not readily go 

 into empty supers or build combs so long 

 as there is a quantity of empty comb — 

 ready made receptacles for honey — be- 

 low. As soon as a flow commences, if 

 the brood in an outside comb begins to 

 hatch out, the bees will promptly pro- 

 ceed to fill the vacated comb with honey 

 and seal it over. The upper half of the 

 Inner combs are filled up, likewise, until 

 often the brood area is reduced one-half 

 in a few days after the harvest com- 

 menced. They will even fill up isolated 

 cells, and groups of cells all through the 

 brood-nest, until there will scarcely be 

 found unsealed brood enough left to fill 

 half a frame. 



At the same time the queen, under the 

 stimulation of warm weather and a 

 copious honey-flow, will lay faster than 

 at any time before, if allowed unre- 

 stricted room. Yet, now she has to be 

 most restricted, and since at the same 

 time there are more nurse-bees than 

 ever before, no wonder they swarm. 



If, by any means, swarming is pre- 

 vented or delayed, and the bees do get 

 well to work in the sections, they will 

 often go to emptying the brood-combs 

 again, and carry the honey above. But 

 swarm they usually will, sooner or later, 



we all know that. To get well under 

 way in the supers tends to delay swarm- 

 ing, and the smaller the brood-chamber, 

 and the more nearly filled with brood, 

 the sooner the bees will go into the sec- 

 tions. Bees have to be coaxed or forced 

 into surplus departments. Nothing but 

 empty comb will coax them, and nothing 

 but crowding to force — squeeze — them 

 into the upper story. 



Quite a number who use as small a 

 hive as the 8-frame Langstroth, contract 

 that at the beginning of the honey-flow. 

 There is no doubt in my mind as to its 

 advantages, but I have found the work 

 tedious when I have to fill up the spaces 

 with dummies, and I doubt if that pays. 

 But to hive all swarms in brood-cham- 

 bers contracted horizontally or other- 

 wise, I believe will always find favor 

 with many comb honey producers. I 

 believe it to be better to have nothing 

 but starters of foundation in the brood- 

 frames. A super to put on, in which 

 considerable of a start has been made, 

 with a queen-excluder between, are im- 

 portant factors in the case. The bees 

 will then do nearly all their work above. 

 I have had swarms hived on five Lang- 

 stroth frames to fill several supers, and 

 leave some of the brood-combs about 

 two-thirds completed. 



I have seldom found it necessary to 

 feed for winter, as a result of this prac- 

 tice. I unite to keep down increase, 

 and in so doing I strengthen the bees up 

 well for winter, and by selecting the 

 fullest combs I can generally supply the 

 reduced number of colonies with plenty 

 of stores. 



The apparent disadvantages of this 

 system are the extra work and care re- 

 quired, and the greatest number of parts 

 necessary to keep on hand, such as 

 honey-boards, dummies, or brood-cases 

 and frames, according to the style of 

 hive used, requiring a greater outlay of 

 capital, etc. I say apparent disadvan- 

 tages, for there is no one, perhaps, 

 unless it is the one man who never 

 knows anything, who has ever system- 

 atically practiced contraction and ex- 

 pansion, but will tell you these invest- 

 ments all pay him. But forever bear in 

 mind, it is only for him who makes the 

 production of comb honey his specialty 

 or leader — he who devotes the best 

 powers of his mind to it — that such in- 

 vestments will pay. Remember also, he 

 will get more honey from 100 colonies 

 of bees, and make more money for the 

 capital invested xhan he will who makes 

 comb honey production a less special or 

 exclusive pursuit. 



One thing more deserves attention 



